Pressure
by Kazima Kuwabara
Summary: It had been building up on him for a while, but no one noticed. No one took a good enough look to see he would snap. And now hes paying the price.


I own nothing...though it would be nice.  
  
I noticed Jeremy has been getting really snappy lately, and got an idea. Enjoy!  
  
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Jeremy clenched his fists as he listened to Od, Ulrick, and Yumi shout at each other. Only God knows why they were arguing. He tried to remain calm. Aelita was on the screen, and watched with confusion and wonder. But her eyes stayed mostly on Jeremy's face.  
  
It was slowly beginning to twist, and contort. Red was entering his cheeks, and he jaw was clenched. He had squeezed his eyes shut, and was trembling.  
  
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"  
  
Everything got quiet. Jeremy was standing, his chair on the floor. His shoulders were raised, fists clenched, face pointed down towards the floor, and body trembling.   
  
The three starred at him. Jeremy had never yelled so fiercely, or used any type of curse before.  
  
He stormed out of the room, and before slamming the door yelled, "YOUR ALL A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!" Yumi's eyes widened and she reached for the slammed door, "We better get him! I've...I've never seen him act like that!!" Od and Ulrick nodded, and followed Jeremy.  
  
Jeremy refused to let them get close and stormed outside. Several students starred with confusion as he came marching out. "Whats going on?" A girl who knew Jeremy as a quiet boy whispered to one of her friends.  
  
"Hey man whats wrong? We didn't mean to make you so ups-" Od was silenced as he hit the dirt. He sat up amazed, holding his bloody nose. Jeremy had punched him, and got him good.   
  
Everyone outside had gone silent. The whole school knew they were best friends. Why had this happened? How could Jeremy do such a thing.  
  
Ulrick growled angrily. "HEY! I don't know what's wrong with you but you don't have the right to hit someone! How could you hit Od?!" He approached Jeremy, and grabbed his arm. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Jeremy pushed Ulrick away from him, a crowd gathering around him.  
  
Yumi had gotten up, holding Od up. The principal was running to them, and when he got their yelled, "What is the meaning of this?!" He placed his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, and the crowd of students gasped as Jeremy slammed his elbow into his gut.  
  
"oh my God!"  
  
"JEREMY!? Sweet Jeremy did THAT!?"  
  
"How could he!?"  
  
"Why'd he do that!"  
  
Voices had risen up, and the principal stood up, his cheeks flushed with rage. Yumi, Od, and Ulrick stood in disbelief. Jeremy would :never: no matter how angry he got, his a teacher, in fact him hitting anyone seemed unbelievable.  
  
"Young man you have some-" The principal stopped speaking. Jeremy was swaying now, and suddenly his eyes went wide, and his body sagged. He fell on his knees, and collapsed on his left side. His body rolling on it's back.  
  
"GOOD HEAVENS!!" The older man scooped him up, and turned to Ulrick, "Call an ambulance!"  
  
:=:=:=:=:=:  
  
Jeremy was placed on a stretcher, the students being held back by the teachers. A Respiratory machine ( I think thats what its called oo() ) had been placed on his mouth, for it seemed Jeremy could not breathe on his own. A blanket had been wrapped on him, and they were already putting and IV in him.  
  
Od, Ulrick, and Yumi insisted on going with him. They refused to take no for an answer and eventually, the principal gave in.   
  
The ride was quiet, and they listened to Jeremy's whimpers, and watched tears trail down his pale cheeks. He was crying in his sleep. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" Od asked, his voice sounding funny from his bloody nose.  
  
"His heart beat sped up too what seems like an impossible rate...we think it might be a panic attack, this is the worst kind I've ever seen." A man told him without looking up.   
  
When they arrived, Jeremy woke up, and continued to sob. "We need to take him in for a cat scan stat!" A nurse said pulling his stretched towards a room. Ulrick, Od, and Yumi ran along beside him. "Jeremy! Hang on buddy!" Od called.  
  
"I'm sorry about your nose." Came a weak cry.  
  
"Don't worry about it!" Od said shaking his head.  
  
"I'm sorry..." Jeremy kept whispering shaking his head tears pouring down his face.  
  
"Young man hush! Don't get upset, your heart rate is picking up again!" The man from before snapped.  
  
"Jeremy listen to him! You gotta get better!" Yumi cried concerned.  
  
Jeremy grabbed Ulrick's wrist, as they pulled Jeremy closer to the emergency room. Time seemed to freeze as Jeremy spoke.  
  
"I'm so stressed. Every other day it seems we have to get to Lyoko. We all struggle against Xana so hard, but I'm so scared. I'm the only one that can really get you all in...if I die you'll be in trouble. I'm not afraid of dying! I don't want to let you down." Jeremy sobbed.  
  
"What if I can't help you in time? What if you need my help, and I can't work fast enough. I don't want that to happen. I don't want to lose any of you. Please don't let me kill you!"  
  
Ulrick clasped his friend's hand. Tears dripped down his cheeks. "We're going to be okay...this is why your sick. You've been so worried about us, with all the problems, and the attacks. You can't worry about us! Why are you?!"  
  
Jeremy was pulled away from them, and with his hand still held up, "I get you inside that game, and I have to know when to help pull you out." He was pulled fully in the room, but they still heard his last words.  
  
"Your my responsibility."  
  
The three stood stunned.  
  
"He can't possibly think that it's his job to make sure we're okay?" Od gasped, eyes wide. "He can't think that! That's an adult's job, he can't think like that."  
  
Yumi lowered her head, "Why didn't we notice? Hes been snapping at us so much lately..."   
  
Ulrick dropped his head. "That's no way to think. Thinking like that will make him sick." As he felt tears slip past his shut eyelids he thought, 'Xana...we haven't even seen you today and you've already just about destroyed one of us...when will all this end?'  
  
Ulrick listened to his friends whimper, and heard them sniffing from tears.  
  
'When can we all get better? When will this stop?' 


End file.
